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Tag Archives: Tasmania

The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens have a story to tell. They are celebrating their 200th anniversary this year.

This delightful “lily pad” platform is the latest addition to the gardens. What a wonderful place to sit and relax, a place for the kids to get down to water level to watch the ducks.

The Gatekeeper’s Cottage now houses information about the gardens, their history and their current purpose of conservation.

Formal gardens, a conservatory, a Japanese garden, lead to oak woodlands and eucalyptus woods. Footpaths meander through regional flower beds, with plants labelled to inform and educate.

It’s a joy to observe the changing seasons at these gardens. As summer ends, there are fewer colourful flowers than at other times of the year. However, there are vibrant greens, hints of autumn and views of Hobart’s harbour location.

It is always a pleasure to have visitors and show them some of our favourite places in Tasmania.

My cousin arrived yesterday so I met her at Hobart airport and introduced her to this delightful sculpture of Tasmanian Devils, by local artist Ruth Waterhouse.

Later in the day we met real live Devils at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. We also saw wombats, koalas, echidna, blue tongue lizards, birds, kangaroos.

“All of our animals at Bonorong are survivors and have a story. We operate a 24 hour rescue service. Our army of hundreds of volunteers brings aid to thousands of suffering animals every year. The service is funded entirely by entry fees. Bonorong is not a zoo. All of our animals are with us for a reason. All of them undergo meticulous assessment to ensure they are happy and healthy. We never compromise on this. Many other animals are released back into the wild after their recovery.”

Since my last visit, Bonorong has opened a unique wildlife hospital, with vets on hand to operate as needed.

This week’s photo challenge is to share a Peek of something, photos to pique our interest. The theme is perfect, for today was the annual “open day” at our Government House in Hobart. We had a peek at the building and gardens that are usual closed to the public.

We peeked in windows, over walls, through trees to get views of the house and views from the house. Tickets to go inside were sold out, unfortunately. We’ll save that for another day.

It is the home and official residence of the Governor of Tasmania, built in the 1850’s, on land that overlooks the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens and the River Derwent. It was built from sandstone that was quarried on site (the excavated holes were made into ornamental pools). Cedar and teak were recycled from an old ship, slate for the roof was imported from Wales and furniture was imported from London.

I visited Inverawe Native Gardens today and spent a delightful couple of hours wandering along paths, stopping to admire the flowers, noticing the varying scents, observing birds and pademelons and little ghekkos.

The owners are welcoming and informative, sharing their enthusiasm for the garden they have designed and planted since retiring to Tasmania in 2001, from Sydney. I relaxed with a cup of tea and home made cakes and appreciated the view.

There are information signs and labels, about the plants, the history of the place, the early explorers and botanists from Europe. There are also sculptures and poems written by the owners, dotted amounts the foliage.

“This garden is designed to please the eye and soothe the soul, but also to sit easily on our ancient, fragile landscape, a garden that works with the environment, not against it.”Rounded

Between 1803 and 1853, nearly 13,000 female convicts arrived in Tasmania, bringing with them about 2,500 children, many of whom were born on the long sea voyage from the UK.

Three life size women and a young boy represent those early Europeans who arrived on this exact spot in Hobart.

Each tells a different story of the hardship of life for women and children in the penal colony.

The first is of a young woman accused of stealing cattle, the second of an Irish famine victim, the third a housemaid who fell pregnant and the fourth a young boy separated from his mother.

The plinths list the ships that arrived over one hundred and fifty years ago. Others list the names of the women who arrived with their children.

We saw the sculptures earlier in the day, whilst still under wraps. They were unveiled by Tasmania’s Govenor, Kate Warner, and the Irish President, Michael Higgins.

… “These sculptures remind us also of the suffering of the migrants of our times…. that the trauma of displacement and forced exile, for many reasons, are not experiences confined to our past but are the lived experiences of millions today around the world, including many who now call Australia home.”

These sculptures were created by Irish artist, Rowan Gillespie, modelled by descendants of Tasmania’s convicts.

There are a few animal parks and sanctuary’s in Tasmania, at the weekend we visited ZooDoo for the first time.

It was easy to get up close to a variety of creatures, both Aussie locals and some from other continents. Meerkats, marmosets, emus, parrots, peacocks, wallabies and quolls were happy to pose for photos.

A safari bus took us into the enclosures of emu, camels, zebras.

I was conflicted about seeing lions in a confined enclosure, but there are no white lions left in the wild. The current population are all in captivity with active breeding programmes in place. Four cubs were born here in 2014, the second litter to these adult lions. The cubs were moved to zoos across Australia, to share the gene pool.

Animal Encounters take place each day, so I was able to see blue tongue lizards and touch a snake. A good reminder that these reptiles are waking from their winter hibernation now that it is spring here.